The Russians Are Coming!

This is one of my favorite movies -- our family has a special connection to it, as my aunt & uncle and cousins were staying in the rooming house where some of the scenes were filmed - and they got to meet Brian Keith and other crew members. "Emergency, emergency - everybody to get from street!"

Winter 1960-61

One of my favorite "baby" pics. Nice outfits!

My father-Dante Torres

Here's a pic of my father, who i've never met. we thought he had died a long time ago, and only found out recently, through the internet, that he was still alive. interesting!

Elfing with the Bruces

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Torres Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Free family tree software - Geneology

My Gaia avatar

Torres Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Blank family tree - Free genealogy

Home-made clothes

How do you like the outfits? My mom used to make most of our clothes - matching styles of course, but I liked the greens/blues, and sis liked the pinks/reds. This was one of my favorite dresses. It was Easter time in 1968. I used to sew all the time too, but not anymore - no place to set up a sewing machine.

Castle Waiting #13 is out!

Castle Waiting #13 is out! I can't wait until mine arrives in the mail! I am very proud of Linda for taking on the arduous task of continuing her series! It's a lot of hard work and commitment to keep this series going, and we are very grateful! check it out at fantagraphics.com.

Send Thanks to Our Troops

Racing Wild!

In going through old photos, found this from when we were in Kansas. It was a wild ride in an old jalopy with barely any brakes! I believe I used the side of the barn to finally stop. It was fun and scary at the same time!

Karg Glass Gallery

I've always loved watching people blow glass and make beautiful things. Some day I'd like to try to make glass beads. Anyway, here are some photos I took on a field trip in 2004. The end result was a colorful platter.

Deep Fried Turkey

Had a great Thanksgiving - first one in my hometown and a second one out of town. For the first time, I had deep fried turkey! A neighbor offered to fry ours for us, and it was very tasty! and very quick! i really like it cooked this way! here's a pic, but it's a stock photo from the internet - none of us had cameras this year. i don't know if you think it looks good, but it sure did taste good!

Santa's Village, Scotts Valley

This is Santa's Village in March of 1963. We used to go there since it was near my aunt's place in Scott's Valley. It was a lot of fun! Now it's all torn down with one of those Silicon-Valley-big-business-buildings on the site. I saw that a book was published about SV by Arcadia Publishing - I'll have to check it out sometime. Memories!

Poem-Tired

here's a poem I wrote back in June after doing some chores --

Tired
Bushed, spent, pooped
Dump the garbage, wash the dishes, fold the clothes
Finished, done, completed
Tired

My New Computer

here's my "new" used computer - iMac - it works beautifully! and i can still use some of my old programs! yippee! it's not the latest iMac, but it's better than what I had before!

Yearbook Yourself 2

okay, i tried it too and, surprise, it looks a lot like my sister's! try it, you'll be horrified! yearbookyourself.com
1952, 1964, and 2000

Ramon Oquendo

We've had some sad news in our family. Ramon Oquendo passed away at the age of 58 due to cancer. He is the little boy sitting on the couch on the right. He will be missed.





Ramon L. Oquendo

September 10, 1950 – November 10, 2008

Passed away peacefully in his Daly City home surrounded by his family.

He is survived by his loving wife, Diana, and sons, Rodrick and Daniel. Son of Mercedes Z. Oquendo and the late Juan F.Oquendo. Brother of Daniel, Peter and Christina Oquendo. Loved by many sisters- and brothers-in-laws, nieces and nephews, other relatives, friends, and the family dog, Phoebe.

A San Francisco native, he graduated from Washington High School and San Francisco State University. He served in the U.S. Army. He was a dedicated employee at City College of San Francisco.

Ramon loved spending time with his family, good books, conversing about old music and films, and football, especially the 49ers.

Friends may visit on Sunday, November 16 from 4:00- 9:00 PM and are invited to attend the vigil service at 7:00 PM at Duggan’s Serra Mortuary, 500 Westlake Avenue, Daly City. A funeral mass will be celebrated on Monday, November 17 at 10:30 AM at St. Andrews Catholic Church, 1571 Southgate Avenue, in Daly City.

Memorial donations may be sent to: Kaiser Hospice Services, 4131 Geary Blvd., San Francisco, CA 94118.

Attack of the Hand!

Punishment for swearing! In my day, you use to get your mouth washed out with soap, but now, we just let the Hand take care of it!

Poem for Joy

Here's a poem I wrote for Joy's funeral photo board:

I am not alone,
He is always with me.
I am not alone,
He will never leave me.
When I miss my loved ones who've passed,
I know they are with Him -- forever at peace, eternal at last.
He is the Truth,
He is the Way,
And I will see Him, come someday.
9-25-08

Crocheted Animals

Here's some animals that mama has made - we finally sold one of the penguins at Robin's store - it was a present for a blind girl who collects penguins and the mom thought the texture would be perfect for her little girl.

the other pic is of two large bunnies that she made a while ago and we still haven't sold them. maybe one day....

more Lost World pics

Lost World, Scotts Valley, CA

Here's a pic from 1964 or so, at "Lost World" or "Trees of Mystery" that was located in Scotts Valley, CA, near Santa Cruz. We used to go there a lot as kids because it was near the post office and my aunt lived near there -- and we lived with her when my mom was going to school. it was a fun place. it's no longer there - google it and you'll find some articles about the family that created it. some of the trees are in Gilroy now. i sure do miss it - it would've been a great place to take the kids!

craft show results

well, we didn't do as expected, but good enough. we only made half as much as we did last year, but enough to cover the booth fee - which we didn't have to pay anyways. we did sell some items of auntie mary's and auntie lillian's, so that was good! did some networking - met some crafters who want to sign-up for the craft faire i'm in charge of this December. i hope all goes well!

Stressed!

well, the week didn't start off good, what with auntie lillian falling and scaring the you-know-what out of us, and then uncle albert falling too! then had to do fanhs stuff and get tooth work done, then set up for our craft show -- all today! - that last part.

tomorrow's an early day, as we have to take the van in for a check-up and do the craft show. i sure do hope we sell a lot of stuff, as we didn't do at the last sale. here's a little bit of what i make for the sale.

Melancholy day

went through Joy's clothes today, mama kept a bunch and we'll take some to prunedale, the rest will go to PI or Joyce. albert talked about how he met joy and showed us some photos he found - some from joy's family (old photos of her kids as babies) and some from their recent trip to London, Russia, etc. i think he's alone too much, too much to think and wallow. at least we'll be in prunedale for a few days, that will keep him busy.

busy day

today i switched the sheets on my bed to flannel, then washed 3 loads of laundry and folded them, went to officemax to have fanhs stuff done, washed dishes, made 12 more pairs of guitar pick earrings, baked a chocolate cake, ate leftover pizza, and played around on the computer. phew!

watched Pushing Daisies, Mythbusters, and debating whether or not to watch Grindhouse on OnDemand - it's over 3hrs long and it's nearly 10PM right now! oh well, we shall see.

Angel pin

here's the angel pins that i made - what ya think?

What is this??

Here's an item that I found a while back in a thrift shop - i didn't know what it was, but i thought it looked neat - very smooth and makes a nice noise when you clink the tines (?) together. So far, no one in the family knows what it is. then, get this, I found the same exact thing, at the same thrift shop - five years later! so now i've got two of them!

Genealogy names

I better put this in also -- (except I'll spell it correctly!) ;-)

Here's our family surnames.....
Juanitas, Yongque, Ybera -- Philippines
Peres, Esteban, Barrado, Rodriguez -- Spain
Torres, Masciotti-- Peru

Pai-Gow

Went to Jackson today (Sunday) with mama and James, and he taught me how to play pai-gow poker - it was a lot of fun! we didn't do so bad today - i won, but mama kept giving it back! james treated us to dinner with his comp points. yummy sandwiches.

went to pick up our craft stuff earlier, and we didn't do gang-busters, but enough to pay the booth fee - sold Lillian's quilt top! didn't sell too much more though. next show is in two weeks, hopefully, we'll do better.

mama was so cold this morning, she turned on the furnace! so i took my fan out of the window - i guess it's definitely not summer anymore!

watching the World's Longest Yard Sale on hgtv, interesting.

took my niacin pills and now i'm having hot flashes!

this week i'll have to do a lot of stuff for fanhs and the nurses - no rest for the weary!

lost out on my daily chances for gaia today - got home too late!

gas is $3.35 here - nice!

got CW#12! great story! i like the Dr's background story, interesting - but i'd sure like to see what's under the mask!

i guess that's it for tonight - since it's getting late.

blogs i visit....from time to time

http://pepsinarcolepsy.livejournal.com/ - Laura's
http://utopiarose.blogspot.com/ - Lisa's
http://madcutlass.blogspot.com/ - Nichole's

and i'm on facebook and gaia-online, from time to time

First Post....hmmm

What should I write about on this blog? Well, since it's titled Mish-mash, here goes..... right now, I'm watching my favorite John Wayne movie, "McClintock" on PBS.

I made some more guitar-pick earrings today, going to sell them for $3.99 at Robin's place, plus I made some angel pins, which I'll sell for $1.50 at our next craft show in two weeks.

Went to the new Michael's store here, it's not laid out very well, no good flow to the aisles. And, for being open only a week, its bathroom was very dirty!

Strother Martin sure does make a good whiny-snot-nosed-yellow-bellied Indian agent. A big difference from Cool Hand Luke!

Well, that's it for today. my favorite part of the movie is coming up - the big mud pit to-do!

"People, people, people!"